


fall away

by negativenancy



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Cocky, Gay, He's not, I swear, Josh - Freeform, M/M, Music, Shop, Songfic, Tyler - Freeform, and so is tyler, fall away, he seems, i love, josh is soft, joshler - Freeform, like a bit, of a dick, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 23:29:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7594594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/negativenancy/pseuds/negativenancy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>first impressions don't really matter anymore; joshler!au</p>
            </blockquote>





	fall away

**Author's Note:**

> hello i hope this actually goes somewhere unlike everything else i write :D  
> this is meant to be a fall away songfic but who knows where it'll end up jeez

josh unlocks the door to the music shop to start his morning shift, dumping his bags behind the counter. he likes to stick to a routine, consisting of quickly rushing to the drum rooms and getting some practice in before customers visit. while its unlikely people would be shopping for any instruments at 5am, he doesnt like to take any chances. so he grips his drumsticks, worn and chipped, pushes his earbuds in and pours his energy into an hour of playing. 

tyler wakes up late, the brightness of the afternoon sun preventing him from drifting back to sleep for the third time today. the time displays 14:38 and he grudgingly pulls himself out of bed, grateful for the warmth of the room as he pulls on a pair of tracksuit bottoms. the fridge is scattered with sticky notes, a magazine clipping reminding him of the ukelele he read about and persuaded himself to buy, even if he's a month behind on rent. 

it hadnt been busy today, and josh was relieved. it's not very often he gets much time for himself as he invests 6 days out of his week into the shop, but even on sundays he volunteers at a teaching studio where he has slots assisting and teaching children and teens from about 7-19 years old. he's never had much of a distinctive idea of how he'd like his career to pan out, but teaching seems like a rewarding way to spend the rest of his life. tapping the desk absentmindedly, he watches as people scan various learners books and the rack of albums he's propped up by the door. his manager told him to make sure he buys a wide range of genres to display, but josh couldnt help but put every album he'd ever loved and admired on the metal shelves, hoping he could give other people the same inspiration that he gained from the songs. 

looking back up at the sign for the fourth time, tyler double checked he had the right address the magazine clipping was telling him. he'd never wanted an instrument more, not since his grandma left him the piano all those years ago, and he was determined to find the exact ukelele the picture showed. he folded the sheet neatly and tucked it into his pocket, ready to take out as soon as a worker approached him to offer their help. as he entered the shop, he was taken aback by the vast range of instruments and devices and amps and technology sound systems and everything inbetween. he stood at the entrance for a second, looking around before stopping at the counter where a boy stood, chewing gum and tapping on the register. tyler hoped he'd stop when he got closer, but bubblegum boy just smiled at him and turned a little to face him directly. tyler didnt smile back, but stared down at his fingertips on the counter, hoping to make himself clear. bubblegum boy didnt pick up on the hint. 

"do you think you could stop that tapping while im stood here? dont worry, you'll be free to go back to making annoying noises pretty fucking soon"

josh stared at the boy in front of him, his jaw stilling and his fingers frozen in the air. a second passed, silent and tense, until josh's hand fell onto the worktop and he began stammering out an apology, still surprised by the customers rude outburst. the boy rolled his eyes in response and dug into the pocket of his jeans. josh looked down at his empty desk, picking at the rough edge of his bitten fingernail until a neatly cut magazine extract was placed into view. 

tyler allowed himself to quickly run his eyes over his appearance. taking note of his arty tattoo and stretchers in his ears, he'd only just noticed his light pink hair before the boy was looking back up at him, the picture in this hands.

"i-is this the um, the instrument you're looking for?"

on hearing the tone of voice and the slight shakiness, tyler felt bad for a second, maybe a bit longer. the boys eyes were slightly hesitant and he lost the smile he had before tyler spoke.

"yeah, i um saw it in a music magazine, and it was advertising where i could buy it so i came here. i mean, it was here or two other studios in florida so it was a bit of an easy choice."

josh swallowed as the boy softened his tone and cautiously made eye contact for the first time since he entered the shop. his eyes were soft, with harsh bags underneath them. josh chewed once, twice, and then smiled warmly. at least he hopes it appears warm. 

"im josh, im pretty much the only guy who works here, at least i am today but on tuesdays we have a guy called mark who comes in and is mainly based on the tech system stuff, he's a pretty cool dude." 

he chewed his lip and looked around the shop for a second, before returning his gaze back to the ukelele boy. 

"you're the first person who has spoken to me today, and correct me if im wrong but im assuming you're a new customer?"

the boy nodded in response.

"okay so if you want to, i can take you on a little tour round the shop, we've got different sections and some practice studios, including a small recording studio. i totally get it if you're not interested and thats okay i mean im probably not even a very good tour guide um y-you could wait until mark comes and-"

josh stops when he notices a slight grin on the boys face, one eyebrow cocked slightly. he bites the inside of his cheek and looks down, embarassed for his rambling and stupid suggestion. when has he ever offered to take customers on a tour? WHO would ever offer to take customers on a tour? its not the fucking grand canyon josh, god, the boy probably wishes he'd taken that trip to florida now. josh does. he'd take anywhere but being stood here. 

"i dont want this mark guy to take me round. i doubt he's got cool tattoos and pink hair and i also doubt he'd put up with my rude ass like you've been doing. which by the way, sorry. it was a dick move. and im tyler joseph." 

tyler forces himself to keep eye contact the whole time, ignoring the exposed feeling he gets and focuses on making sure josh picks up on the fact he's being genuine. he watches as the boys lips part slowly in surprise, and then close quickly. he holds his gaze until it wavers on being slightly creepy and he looks back at the clipping, still in josh's hand. 

feeling slightly flustered from all of the sudden eye contact, josh follows tyler's gaze down to his hand where he notices the forgotten ukelele. 

"oh of course, im sorry, i completely forgot about the uke, do you want me to see if i can find this or do you want to have a look around first?" 

tyler cant help but smile at josh's constant flustered nature and he shakes his head. 

"i want this tour that you keep mentioning, and actually, you've got me particularly intrigued in the recording studio. im surprising myself here, but the ukelele can wait."

josh grinned sheepishly and moved out from behind the counter, clicking shut the latch. he consciously brushes down his tshirt as he catches tyler scan over his appearance quickly. he hands back the clipping to tyler, watching him fold it along its neat lines carefully before tucking it into the front pocket. tyler grins up at him and gestures for josh to lead the way. 

"so as you can probably tell, this is the main area that you come into first. this rack holds the albums for you to listen to through the supplied aux, and buy if you like the sound. you can also test out different speakers and cd players with them. there's also a shelf of music books, they range from learners to specific genres and musicians. these are stacks of blank sheet music and blank cd's, both of those are for you to help yourself to."

josh looks back at tyler, who is visibly taking everything in, running his finger along the tops of the album cases and smiling slightly at ones he recognises. 

"how do you choose which ones to display?"

josh knows he shouldnt really tell a customer that he picks all of them but tyler seems to be an exception. he can't identify why. 

"im not really supposed to but i pick them all, it's a pretty biased selection i guess."  
he frowns at the realisation and waits for tyler to move along but he doesnt. he hums in response and keeps gazing at the covers, taking note of artists and album names and artworks and different styles of packaging. 

"which is your favourite?" 

tyler looks at him for the first time since they left the counter and josh doesnt take long to pick out the album in the place he's always kept it. if anyone decides to buy it, he's straight up to the closest cd shop and has it replaced again within 10 minutes. tyler repeats the name of the album and the artist, absorbing the artwork and the tracklist on the back, reading out some of the songs to himself quietly. 

josh waits patiently, but shifts his weight from each leg from time to time, consciously looking round incase any other customers require his help. they all seem pretty confident in what they're doing here so he turns back to tyler, who has also been looking round. josh takes this as a signal that he's ready to move on. they make their way through the tech part quickly, tyler saying how he wasnt quite ready for "all that advanced beepy stuff" yet. as he reaches the drum department, he hopes tyler might show some interest so they could share that together but once again, tyler nods as josh goes through each drum. failing to hold back, he finishes his speech about snare drums, shamefully realising he's just left tyler there to stand and listen. 

"im guessing this is an instrument you play?" 

tyler chuckled as josh nodded enthusiastically, and he began another speech about how old he was and the colour of his first kit and much more. usually tyler would have gotten bored if someone spoke for as long as josh did about something he wasnt hugely interested in, but for some reason, he cant help but find it endearing when josh does it. after asking several questions as josh sparked an interest in tyler, they moved on to the next department, and tyler felt his cheeks tighten as he realised he was grinning. he heard josh's suddenly distant voice mention words like keys and piano but tyler was so far gone. he slowly walked into the room, as if he was in a trance, and looked upon the rows and rows of keyboards and let his hand graze along the tops of the keys, feeling the familiar bumps and flatness. reaching the end of the aisle, he turned and couldnt help but let out a quiet gasp. along the wall were several grand pianos lined up, practically begging tyler to play them.

josh realised he needn't walk tyler through the piano department as he watched him absorb the display instruments. if anything, he was slightly amused at this new side of the boy that he hadn't seen before, shy and bewildered, and he watched with a strange fondness as tyler sat on the cushioned chair and turned back to josh, catching him off guard. 

"is it okay if i play for a little? i wont break anything, i promise, i just really want to see how it sounds."

josh nodded instantly. he'd never refuse anyone from playing anything in the shop, and he wouldnt admit it but he was intrigued to hear tyler play. he quickly took a glance through the windows separating the piano room and the main area to check on the customers again but they had all gone by now. as soon as the first note filled the soundproofed room, josh's head span back around to the piano tyler was sat at, his back crouched and head bobbing slightly. he began playing a melody that josh didnt recognise, which escalated into something slightly heavier and over the increasingly louder notes, josh could hear tyler muttering to himself. he shook his head every now and then and his hands came down on the keys harder with each note he played. it began to feel so intimate and personal that josh wasnt sure if he should be watching, but he couldnt tear his eyes away no matter what. tyler suddenly paused and played a higher pitched melody slowly, ending the song and then sitting still and silently at the piano for a second. josh didnt move, he didnt know if he should. he heard tyler breathe out a deep sigh, as if he'd been holding it in the entire time, and stood up to push the stool back under the piano. 

"tyler, that was so good, like better than good, t-that was incredible."

he looked up at josh and felt a blush creep across his cheeks, knowing he'd gone a deep red straightaway. he smiled at him and swallowed, still feeling emotional from playing. 

"thank you, josh, that means a lot."

josh nodded and smiled and praised him some more, his red cheeks burning but he didnt mind. it was almost a relief for someone to hear him play after so long of living on his own, and it was especially nice to hear that josh liked it. for some reason, he seemed to value what josh thought of him, and it confused tyler. he'd barely known him for much longer than two hours yet here he was playing for him and taking in every word he said. although he wasnt quite ready to leave the piano room, he knew now that he would come back, however many times, just to play the various instruments and maybe even to see josh again. 

they skimmed through the rest of the departments, aware that tyler was interested in the strings section considering he came for a ukelele. once they made their way into that room, he didnt expect tylers eyes to keep flickering from the ukelele shelf to a black bass hung up on the wall.

"do you want me to get that down for you? ill bring in an amp if you like."

tylers head shook, frowning slightly.

"no its okay, thank you. i dont know how to play, ive always been into how they sound though."

"maybe another day then?"

"yeah, maybe another day."

tyler fiddled with the ukelele on the wall, plucking at its strings absentmindedly. he saw one similar to the one he'd cut out and stuck to the fridge, and it reminded him to ask josh if they had it. 

"do you think you could check for that ukelele in the magazine? i cant see it on the walls but i hope you've got one in stock somewhere-"

tylers voice drifted off a little at the end of his sentence as he looked around the strings room, and back up to josh. josh smiled as he took the clipping from tylers hand, and found the identification code that had already been highlighted. biting his bottom lip, he quickly scanned the wall to double check before letting tyler know he'll be about 10 minutes checking the store room. god, he hopes they have one in the back room. this is literally all tyler came for, and he doesnt know if he could face the disappointment on the boys face if he had to tell him they dont have any to sell. rushing through the aisles of boxes, he finds the ukelele stamps and scans the metal shelves for the right code. seeing the matching one, he sighs in relief and cuts open the box to check the ukeleles match up before removing it from its mounds of bubblewrap packaging and placing it gently in a bag to carry out to tyler. 

unhooking a dark oak ukelele off the wall, he sits cross legged on the floor, strumming and plucking at the strings playing random notes and running his fingers along the fret board. humming along to a beat, tyler thinks about the ukelele in the magazine and how its drawn him to it unlike any other ukelele he's seen before. he'd tried so hard to love ones that he's seen in the shops but he's always empty handed and miserable when he leaves the store. the door swings open and he looks up, pressing his flat fingers against the uke to silence it. the bag in josh's hand is swinging slightly and he looks up at his grinning face, suddenly shy at the prospect that this great new instrument he's thought about for so long is right in front of him. he stands up slowly, hooking the ukelele back onto the wall and turns back to josh. 

"is that it? josh is that it are you sure that's it, oh my goodness i think that's it-"

josh laughs as tyler rushes over to him, peeking into the bag and pulling out the ukelele ever so gently. he watches tylers face switch from expressions of awe to joy and pure surprise. he smiles, taking in the sight of someone falling in love with an instrument and he feels satisfied with himself for being able to hand tyler something that he'll hopefully grow to cherish. tyler thanks him over and over and josh still cant believe its the same boy as the one who walked into the shop earlier that day but he doesnt really care and first impressions dont really count anyway and he thinks tyler is actually nice and happy and cute. he thinks yes actually tyler is quite cute and he's okay with that because even he knows his tapping is extremely annoying.


End file.
